The Perfection of Giving started as a short story about a young organization called the 108 Live Project, for which I volunteer and are active member. By the time I came in, early on, another volunteer, also filmmaker, had started documenting everything in video, but eventually she had to travel away for a while, so I took over the task.
I started documenting the organization and the process of our first pilot program in Nepal: to bring happiness to 108 beggars in Kathmandu and find a way to replicate the process in other places in the world. So my focus was about the 108 Lives Project. The idea was basic, let’s make a video that shows the people how we did it.
As the organization evolved, so did the story. The trip to Nepal changed many things, inside of me and for the film.
I was challenged by one of my teachers, on how large the theme of generosity could potentially be, and the high profile character that can be interested in participating. I was challenged by a monk with his philosophical ideas of service and intent. And I was inspired by other filmmakers whom I met in Nepal, just for two days, my friends at the Planetary Collective (they are doing some amazing work, please check them out!)
And so, The Perfection of Giving became a search for the meaning of true generosity, for the philosophical and practical applications of generosity. For the way it affects the lives of the people how gives as much as those who receive. Giving has so many layer, so many ways of manifesting in our lives.
Now, I am on this journey, with a few awesome teammates, and many new experiences, to create a whole series of documentaries, and a final movie, reaching out in every direction to the many ways that we can perfect giving, to inspire people to understand how giving makes us happy, and how ultimate evolution is in sharing and giving, and understanding that the biggest act of giving is when one gives one’s self completely, for others, without expecting anything back.
Yes. I am happy. Sure, I might complain once in a while about the train being late or the slow walking tourist in “my” New York sidewalks, but it is never enough to make me think “I am not happy”. I found happiness. The great thing is that you can too! You just need to look in the right place.
